Having exhorted his readers to spend the rest of their lives on earth in accordance with God’s will, the writer now goes back to the time before their conversion and gives a description of their former state. You have spent enough time is used with a sense of irony (compare Matt 6.34; 10.25). What the writer is saying is that far too much time had been spent in pagan practices, and very little time is left; it is therefore very urgent, as expressed in verse 2, that this little time be spent properly in doing the will of God.
In a number of languages it is impossible to speak of “spending time.” In fact, the statement You have spent enough time in the past must be related to the following clause what the heathen like to do, for in a sense the first clause of verse 3 is a qualifier of the second clause, and accordingly, one must often render the first sentence as “for enough time now you have been doing what the heathen like to do.” The order might be reversed, for example, “what the heathen enjoy doing is just what you have been doing for enough time now.”
What the heathen like to do (literally “the will of the Gentiles”) is synonymous with “human desires” in verse 2 and is contrasted with God’s will. “Gentiles,” as in 2.12, refers to non-Christians rather than to non-Jews. In the Greek, the list of wrongdoings is connected with Gentiles (see Revised Standard Version), but since it is clear from the context (particularly verse 4) that the recipients of the letter also engaged in such wrong practices, many translations have restructured the verse to indicate this fact clearly (Good News Translation; compare Barclay “Your past conduct was characterized by…”; Moffatt “you used to lead lives of…”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “In that time you lived in…”). The list itself bears similarities with other lists in the New Testament (especially Rom 1.29-31 and Gal 5.19-21) and accurately describes immoral and indecent acts practiced by individuals and groups in Asia Minor at that time. Here these immoral acts can be divided into three categories: (1) sexual sins – indecency, lust; (2) sins of intemperance – drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties; and (3) wrong religious practices – disgusting worship of idols.
The Greek term rendered heathen in the Good News Translation is literally “the nations” and is frequently translated as “Gentiles.” In a number of contexts this term may be translated as “non-Jews,” but in this particular context the rendering of “those who are not Jews” would be unsatisfactory, for the contrast is between those who believe in God and do his will and those who do not. Accordingly, it is probably most satisfactory in this context to translate heathen as “unbelievers” or “those who do not obey God.”
Indecency translates a Greek word which refers to sexual excesses resulting in indecent behavior. Lust translates the same word used for desires in verse 2, and may be understood generally as strong, excessive desires of all kinds (compare New American Bible “evil desires”), but may be understood more specifically in terms of impure sensual desires, hence lust (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Phillips). It may be useful in some languages to combine the meanings of indecency and lust as “strong desire for immorality” or “immoral longings.” A phrase equivalent to “evil passions” may also do justice to the two terms indecency and lust, which in a sense serve to reinforce one another in this list.
Drunkenness conveys not only excessive drinking, but habitual intoxication (compare Jerusalem Bible “drinking all this time”; Barclay “habitual drunkenness”). Orgies describes the result of excessive drinking; another way of expressing it is “excessive feasting,” “wild parties” (Jerusalem Bible). Drinking parties is similar to orgies, but whereas the latter is the result of drunkenness, the former provides the occasion for it. Included in the word is the idea of drinking competitions to see who can drink the most. Drunkenness may be rendered as “frequently getting drunk” or “constantly drinking too much,” but in this type of context, a term for “drinking” must indicate the drinking of intoxicating liquors. There may be a value in combining the meanings of orgies and drinking parties in order to suggest the close relationship between the two, for example, “occasions when people get together to drink a great deal and act in a shameful manner.”
Disgusting worship of idols translates a term which can be literally rendered “unlawful idolatries” (compare Revised Standard Version “lawless idolatry”). The word translated “lawless” occurs in Acts 10.28 in the sense of “forbidden by the law of Moses.” In classical Greek, it describes acts which are contrary to what is naturally accepted as proper or decent. Here, it may have a more intense meaning, referring to something which is so obviously evil that any decent person would detest or shun it (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “detestable worship of gods”; Barclay “idolatries which outrage common decency”; Knox “shameful idolatry”). In rendering disgusting worship of idols, there may be a problem in attempting to reproduce an equivalent of disgusting. One might suggest an attributive such as “detestable,” but again in may languages it is important to indicate to whom such an activity would be detestable. There is very little help to be gained from attempting to reproduce a more or less literal rendering of the Greek, namely, “unlawful,” for obviously the worship of idols was not against the law. It is possible, or course, to render disgusting worship of idols as “the worship of idols, something which no one should ever do.” Sometimes the worship of idols may be qualified by an expression equivalent to “horrible,” for example, “the horrible worshiping of idols.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .